


Red Hood and Wolf

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The red hood is a symbol of compromise, and the wearer shall not be harmed so long as they adhere to the one rule of the forest. Should this rule be broken, a monster shall exact revenge.<br/>Karkat knew he probably should have paid more attention to that part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Red Hood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mony/gifts).



> The official Red Hood and Wolf blog can be found at redhoodandwolf.tumblr.com

  
“The heretics have prepared for battle! We must reclaim our holy land!”

“We can’t go in blind,” Kanaya whispers, “and keep it down, they’ll hear you!”

You narrow your eyes, crouching down behind the barrier. “So what if they do?” You ask, “Idiots like that could overhear our entire battle strategy and still be powerless against our superior and God given might.”

“Yes, but we want a battle, not a retreat, and the enemy is known for being rather . . . skittish,” Kanaya says, with a dismissive wave of her hand.

You roll your eyes in return.

“Well if we want a goddamn battle then why aren’t we attacking?”

“Point taken," Kanaya replies, adjusting her position and peering slightly over the barricade at the enemy forces, “Shall we?”

You lift the old basket in your arms, narrowing your eyes and nodding wordlessly at her. Your shoes dig into the mud as you prepare to charge at your foes. Kanaya’s gaze drifts from you to your targets, and she flexes her fingers at her sides, bending at the knees and hunching her shoulders.

“Go!” You shout, your voice cracking a bit as you push off of your feet toward the muddy pink piglet rolling in a puddle just a few feet away. At the sound of your voice and the scuffle of feet coming toward it the piglet starts, squealing fearfully and struggling to its feet to flee.

“No you don’t!” Kanaya cries, leaping forward in a vain attempt to grasp the slippery swine. It escapes her, causing her to slide through its muddy puddle bath on her chest, feet flailing behind her. She clumsily rises to her feet, standing in the middle of the dirt road with her front covered in grime and glaring after the fleeing piglet.

You run past her in pursuit, hearing her grumble something under her breath about “speedy little fuckers” before she catches up with you. The piglet crawls under a fence and you think you might have a chance to grab it before it gets to the other side, so you make the dive.

You completely underestimated the piglet’s wiggling speed and greet a fencepost face first. Kanaya then has the brilliant idea to use your back to give her a boost as she leaps over the fence after the piglet, calling back at you to get up and help her. You curse her and the piglet and all of swinekind as you crawl to your knees and try to find an easier way through the fence. It would be fantastic if there were a gate nearby, but that would just make things too simple wouldn’t it?

You finally give up and attempt to climb the fence, your short limbs making it a difficult endeavor, not to mention having to carry the basket along with you-but you only land flat on your ass in the dirt once before you successfully traverse to the other side! Good for you!

You balance the basket in your arms again and take off as fast as your legs can carry you, calling out to Kanaya for the location of your quarry. You hear no response and curse under your breath, turning on your heel and taking off in another direction, yelling for her again.

“This way!” She shouts back. Wow, how fucking helpful.

Nevertheless, you dash in the direction of her voice, thanking your various and sundry gods when you catch sight of her and the pink abomination. Still, if you keep going like this you’ll be chasing this little shit until the sun goes down. This calls for a better plan.

Kanaya is keeping up with it, but she won’t be catching up with it anytime soon. What you need to do is get ahead of it, but how? If you can just figure out where it’s going to go-

A brilliant plan strikes you.

“Kanaya! Chase that thing to the tailor’s!” You call out, making a sharp right.

You barely make it to the other side of the tailor’s house when you hear the frightened squeals of the piglet; Kanaya is gaining on it.

It doesn’t matter though; your brilliant plan has this thing in the bag--or basket, if you’d like to lose the metaphor for more literal accuracy. Putting that aside, you’re gonna nab the little shit.

You leap out from behind the building and toward the piglet, basket upturned above your head. The piglet barely has time to look scared before you’ve brought the basket down around it. Kanaya barely has time to stop. She doesn’t have any time to stop at all actually, and you all end up in a rather muddy and miserable pile.

At least you caught the fucker.

 

“And think,” Kanaya says when you’ve got the piglet back in its pin, “just four more to go!”

 

* * *

 

You've finally wrestled the last of the errant swine into submission, plopping it into the much-abused basket and preparing to deliver it to the pin with its siblings, when the bell tolls. You groan.

"Shit, it's today?"

Kanaya dusts off her skirt, shaking it to rid herself of caked on mud, and frowns.

"We won't make it on time if we bring the piglet back to the pen first."

You look down into the basket to see the piglet has curled up for a nap, exhausted from its vie for freedom. Looks like it's down for the count and longer.

"We'll just take it with us and bring it back after the ceremony is over. How much trouble can one stupid pig cause?"

The eyebrow she raises at you answers that question, but you really don't have much of a choice. Ceremony attendance is mandatory--especially now, in your case.

"Are you nervous?" Kanaya whispers to you when the two of you have safely meandered into the growing crowd. You don't spare the question more that a moment of thought.

"Hell no."

She looks taken aback, and wonders at your answer. You scoff in reply.

"You came back fine, right? No one's gone missing in that forest for years," You adjust the basket in your arms as a group of elders begin to gather behind a wooden pedestal, "the whole 'beast of the forest' thing is just a bunch of superstitious geezers running their mouths about a big wolf or some shit."

An older villager overhears you and glares, and Kanaya gives you a scolding shove before you can begin your tangent about the fear-mongering elderly. You roll your eyes, but stay silent as you pretend to pay attention to the ceremony in front of you.

This happens every three months; every villager at or over the age of fifteen has their names put in this special box to be drawn out at this ceremony, and whoever is selected is the designated link between the village and the world outside of the forest: they bring goods to outside markets, learn the news of the outside world, and make purchases to bring back to the village.

No one else has permission to leave the village but that person. Also they have to wear an obnoxious red hood and cloak whenever they go about because "tradition" and "agreements".

All because some old geezers got paranoid about a bigger than usual bear or wolf or something.

You turned fifteen a month ago.

Six months ago, Kanaya wore the hood.

And you know what happened to her? Jack shit.

You know how many awful horrible vengeful forest creatures she saw? Jack shit.

This whole ceremony is such a-

"Karkat Vantas!" A voice bellows over the nervous whispers of the crowd. Your head immediately jerks up to see one of the oldest and crustiest of the old crusty buffoons pointing a quivering grey finger at you. You barely suppress a groan and fail to suppress an eyeroll as you pass Kanaya the basket.

For a moment you meet her eyes, and there is worry in them. Your roll your eyes again.

The village elders, human and troll alike, raise an eyebrow at your mud-crusted attire, but say nothing about it. The "sacred" ceremony can be interrupted for nothing.

You look like a fucking jackass, everyone watching while you're anointed with sacred this and blessed with sacred that and repeat the sacred oath and get made up all sacred as fuck in your shitty sacred red cloak and God DAMN THIS IS STUPID.

The entire time you're being "anointed" and "purified" or whatever that weird smelly water is supposed to be doing, the elders warble out the tale of the great beast of the forest. You've heard it so many times that you catch yourself almost mouthing the words along with them.

"Legend" tells that long ago the village was much larger, and lived in harmony with the forest and its denizens, including a great and powerful creature that, though rarely seen, seemed quite benevolent.

On a day quite like any other, the villagers were struck with fear as the creature appeared before them, furious and terrifying. The villagers knew not what they had done to incur the creature's wrath, and many cowered helplessly beneath the angry being, who towered far above them and exuded a deep and powerful anger.

The creature demanded a villager come forth--a sacrifice to satisfy whatever wrong it deemed had been done to it, but the villagers refused to sacrifice one of their own. Instead, they attacked the creature, forcing it back into the forest from whence it came.

Still, they could not feel safe with the creature still living, and planned to smoke out the now weakened beast, and relieve the village from its terrifying shadow. They set many fires in the forest in an attempt to draw out the beast, and draw it out they did--but instead of a weakened creature, they were faced with an even angrier monster.

This time they knew they could not defend themselves from the wrath of the beast, and prostrated themselves before it, begging mercy, for they had only wanted to defend their village.

The beast was appeased by their begging, and promised not to harm their village or any of the villagers, on one condition:

The bounty of the forest, which the creature decreed to be its own, would no longer be freely given to the villagers. Instead, if they entered the great forest at all, they must stay strictly on the paths carved out for them.

Anyone who stepped so much as one foot from the path would belong to the beast.

What a fucking load.

The final words of the ceremony are spoken and you are given permission to go about your business and holy hell do you ever want to rip this fucking cloak off of your back, but there are aready villagers lining up with their requests.

With a bit of relief you notice that Kanaya is hanging back and waiting for you, but she still looks so fucking _worried_ and you can _not_ believe your friend has bought into this crap.

 

Whatever, you'll be just fine and that'll prove to her that there's nothing to fear from the big bad wolf-or-other-large-fauna.

* * *

 

"I'm worried about you."

"No shit."

Kanaya gives you a _look_ and you suddenly feel that it's in your best interest to shut your fucking mouth.

She sighs.

"I know you do not believe in the forest monster, Karkat--but please, do not let that make you reckless. Even if there is no monster, there are other things in that forest that could hurt you, so just do as the elders say and stay on the path."

You _don't_ believe in the so-called monster. You think it's a bunch of bullshit hullaballoo asspulled from the crevices of a dendrophobic old curmudgeon so he could make other people go through the forest for him when he had shit that needed to be done, and it just got blown up by a bunch of brainless paranoid assmunchers.

You don't tell her that, because Kanaya has a way with an axe and while you know she would never turn it against _you_ , she might find some of your stuff in need of _remodeling._

"I will," you promise.

 

It's not like you have any reason to step off of the path, anyway.

* * *

 

There was basically no way that you weren't going to step off of the path.

You do, at least, wait until you're on your way _back_ to the village to do so.

Your pack is laden with a few purchases and letters from a city outside the forest--you didn't get too many requests since it's your first time--and you're making your way back home as leisurely as possible because God knows your siblings will find a way to pawn off their chores on you the instant you get back. Not like the red hood and cloak give you any special status for them to respect--now you're just doing chores for a whole bunch of other people, why not them as well?

The forest isn't anything like the terrifying place the elders make it out to be--you've barely glimpse a _squirrel_ along the path, much less a horrible hideous monster--and if the whole "legend" wasn't shit-your-pants stupid before it just seems like a load of watery wriggler feces now.

So, you think, what's the harm in stepping off the path a little?

You don't really have any reason to. You're not even curious as to what you might find in the forest beyond the path. Mostly you just want to do it because fuck the elders fuck the legend fuck the whole damn village tradition.

So you set one foot off of the path.

Nothing.

You scoff to yourself and lift your foot, preparing to set off toward the village again.

Then, dumbass that you are, you decide, "no, i'm gonna prove this bullshit wrong," and you set it back down, quickly following it with your other foot.  Both feet are off the path now, and the forest feels a bit stiller and quieter than before.

You don't let it deter you. You set off through the thick trees with a smirk on your face and a swagger in your step. You're almost tempted to call out the so-called "monster" for not smiting you where you stand. You knew that whole legend was bullshit.

You so knew.

You are so face down on the ground with claws digging into your back and a heavy terrifying weight on top of you.

There is also a voice growling in your ear.

"How many more of you will break the rule before you learn?"

You are so fucked.


	2. The Wolf

Your name is Karkat Vantas and oh my God you take it back. You take every single word of it back. There is a monster in the forest and it is going to fucking eviscerate and devour you in the slowest and most painful way possible because that's what wronged monsters do.

  
The ground under your face looks different from the ground it was driven into before, and all around you the smell of forest-y green is thicker and more pervading--and the sounds of forest life are many times louder and closer than they were before. Your frazzled mind tries to piece together what this all means but the answer, and what it means about the monster's power, is too terrifying to think about.

  
You curse your five-minutes-past self for being such a skeptical asshole as to mock the laws of the forest beast as you are certain your dead future-self will curse you for getting eaten like livestock.  
You really wish you had listened to Kanaya.

  
"Get up."

  
The weight lifts from your body, but you lie as if frozen. Get up? Why? So you can run, giving the beast something to chase? So the beast can see your face before it rips it to ugly grey and red shreds and--

  
"I said get up!"

  
Y'know, whatever the monster is going to do to you when you get up can't possibly be worse than what its voice promises to do if you stay down.

  
You shakily rise to your knees, terrified of removing your gaze from the mossy ground beneath you. You catch a glimpse of clawed white paws and gulp down a sob as you stumble to your feet, imagining what is connected to them. Terror and curiosity battle it out in your frenzied mind as the beast speaks again.

  
"Look at me."

  
You think you might cry--if there aren't already streams of red trickling down your face. You're going to die and the beast is making you look at its whole terrifying monstrosity before it finally cuts you down. You don't know if you've ever thought about how you wanted to go, but if you did it certainly wasn't this way.

  
You slowly raise your eyes.

  
The fur of the white paws grows up until the top of a rather humanoid knee, then tapers off into dark, dark skin. A pelt ends amid these legs, and you're not sure whether it's part of the beast or not. To the sides of the pelt you see arms that, once again, resemble those of a human--with the exception of the white fur that grows from the elbows down and the clawed and padded fingers. You almost jump back in fear at the wolf head that sits atop a dark shoulder before realizing it's part of the pelt--but its bright green eyes still stare balefully at you. Your eyes drift back down and you wonder if that bushy white tail is part of the pelt--then it swishes to the side and you flinch.

  
Moment of truth. You've seen dark hair--darker than the beast's skin, cascading roughly down to its knees, and you hope against all hope that it might have a humanoid face to match its mostly-human torso, and not a frothing muzzle with exceptionally long hair. Your eyes drift up past the pelt, noting a slight curve of breast and collarbone, and finally meet the fearsome green eyes--brighter even than the frightening wolf's head--of the so-called beast.

  
Her face is almost entirely human, discounting the eyes that no human ought to have and teeth that have grown long and sharp in front peeking over her lips. Her face is jaggedly framed by that long, dark hair, and atop her head sits a pair of large, white, canine ears.

  
She doesn't look much older than you, now that you've had a look at her.

  
You wish that made her less frightening, but she's radiating anger the likes of which you have never seen.

  
"I made one rule," she growls, and you wonder how you didn't realize the beast was female before--the answer obviously being that you were too piss-your-pants terrified to notice--but your train of thought is halted by the angry gleam of her eyes, "one rule that can only be broken deliberately, and yet you people never seem to learn! How many of your people must be punished until you learn to listen to me?"

  
You guess pretending it was an accident is out of the question. Not like you can, since you've been shaking too hard to speak since the word "punished" left her lips.

  
The beast lets out an irritated breath through her nose and turns on her heel. Your eyes widen in shock and hope, wondering if she's going to let you go back--

  
"Follow me."

  
Yeah there was basically no way that was going to happen.

  
You could make a run for it, you realize. Sure, she's got those big padded feet and long, strong-looking legs, not to mention knowledge of the forest, and you're a stumpy stocky wimp, but maybe--

  
"Don't try to run, okay?" She turns on you and those green eyes are aglow, "I know everything that happens in this forest, and I can catch you in point-seven seconds, so I really would not recommend it."

  
That was oddly and terrifyingly specific enough to put a stopper in your throat, so you nod mutely and follow meekly after her.

* * *

  
You haven't walked very far when the beast shoots out one of those frightening clawed hands to stop you. You stumble to a stop, barely saving yourself from falling flat on your ass, as the beast opens her mouth and calls out:

  
"Taaavroooos!"

  
You've realized Tavros is a name and have barely started thinking yourself into a panic over what it could possibly be the name of when you see a huge set of orange horns between some branches. Moments later a troll--who looks to be only a little bit younger than you--appears from amid the trees.

  
And he's smiling at the beast that has captured you.

  
"What is it, J-"

  
The beast clears her throat and nods her head toward you and the young troll slaps a hand over his mouth like he has almost revealed a dangerous secret.

  
Actually that probably isn't too far from the truth.

  
"Tavros," the beast says again, and you're shocked by the pleasant tone of her voice, "I'm afraid you'll have to bunk with him for a while. Is that okay?"

  
You risk a glance at the beast and she actually looks apologetic.

  
Tavros laughs and rubs the back of his head, "Oh, yeah--that is fine. You want me to show him around, right?"

  
"I'll leave him to you then," Says the beast, with what could be a smile but is too full of terrifyingly sharp teeth to look like such a friendly thing to you. Tavros nods and turns to you. In what seems like the next instant the space the beast is occupying explodes with crackling green energy, and then she's gone. You stare dumbly at the place she had stood in only a moment ago, the forest around bearing no evidence that she had ever been there.

  
"You mostly get used to it, eventually," Tavros says, in a voice that is anything but reassuring. You're still too gripped with terror to make what would surely be a brilliant sarcastic remark back before he tells you to follow him, saying he'll show you where you'll be staying from now on.

  
Saying "from now on" instead of "until you die" really doesn't comfort you as much as it is surely meant to. Tavros must see the fear on your face because he starts trying to reassure you again.

  
"It is not that bad here, really," he says, holding up and ducking under a low-hanging branch, "We have all made a really good life for ourselves since she brought us here, I think."

  
Something about that shakes you from your terrified stupor.

  
"We?"

  
"Gosh, another one?" Wonders a high voice as you and Tavros pass between two old trees into a grassy clearing.

  
Upon closer inspection, the clearing seems to be a strange sort of small village--but instead of buildings you see only large hollow trees and vaguely house-shaped mounds of earth. Peeking her head out of one of the mounds is a human woman who looks a few years older than you--likely the source of the voice.

  
She walks up to greet you, a tentative smile spreading between round cheeks and a dark arm held out for a friendly handshake. You cautiously grip her hand and she squeezes back hard, shaking your arm vigorously. You wince as she introduces herself.

  
"My name's Jane. Jane Crocker. Yours?"

  
"Karkat Vantas," you mumble, jerking your arm back and gingerly rubbing your hand. If Jane notices your discomfort, she doesn't comment on it, instead turning to Tavros to ask where you'll be staying. That information secured, she turns back to you with curiosity in her eyes.

  
"So, how'd you end up off the path?"

  
You lose the ability to speak for a moment as you recall the collosal dumbassery that led you to your current predicament, then you stammer a few unintelligable things, caught between knowing how stupid your reason will sound and your inability to think up a convincing lie.

  
Thankfully, Jane mistakes your gibbering for trauma, and gives you a sympathetic look, patting your shoulder far more gently than she shook your hand, and not appearing to notice you flinching when her hand comes down.

  
"You'll get used to it here," she assures you, and you continue to fail to be reassured, "most everyone here is pretty welcoming, and we all know what you're going through right now--and she's not-"

  
Jane's eyes shift away from you to Tavros, and she cuts off. You turn your head fast enough to catch the end of a "quiet" gesture, before Tavros attempts a reassuring smile once again. As if it hasn't been proven already that you cannot be comforted. Frankly, the attempts to make you feel better only make you suspicious.

  
You find your voice again, and finally ask the question that has been torturing you since the word left the beast's lips.

  
"What's the 'punishment'?"

  
Jane makes a small "oh" sound and Tavros rubs the back of his head, they then give each other a series of looks before Jane sighs in defeat.

  
"You'll want to sit down," she says, gesturing to a circle of fallen logs towards the middle of the clearing. It's only when you're all seated that she looks at you again, then down at her feet. Her face is solemn and her voice softer than before as she begins to speak.

  
"It's nothing like dying or any kind of painful thing, so if you're afraid of death or torture, don't be. You won't be hurt or starved or anything like that. You'll be given food and shelter and clothing and you'll be provided for."

  
Well that doesn't sound terrifyingly awful at all. So obviously, there must be a catch.

  
"The thing is . . . You can't leave. Ever."

  
Your stomach drops into your shoes.

  
"What?"

  
Jane meets your eyes again to give you a sympathetic look before continuing,  
"I can't tell you why--you'll have to ask her that--but it's been this way since she made the rule. Anyone who steps off the path has to stay in the forest forever."

  
You're stuck here forever. Stuck in the forest. Never going back to the village, never seeing your parents, or Kanaya, or even your bratty siblings again. Stuck with a bunch of other prisoners and a terrifying, angry monster.

  
Your hands are clammy and your vision is blurring at the edges and your stomach is rolling in your gut. You can faintly hear Jane and Tavros asking if you're okay and you feel like you might puke.

  
You actually do puke.

  
Then you faint in the most manly and graceful way possible. Obviously you do not faint anywhere near the puddle of regurgitated lunch because that would just be too awful and really, you've had way too much awful in your day already to add to it now, right?

  
Right?

* * *

  
Your hair feels slightly damp when you wake up, and you attribute it to sweat--after all, who wouldn't sweat a little after having a nightmare like that? You can't believe you didn't wake up screaming and wake the whole house, plus the neighbors.  
Just nerves, you think, blinking blearily and still not quite awake enough to see clearly. All of that bullshit from the elders and worrying from Kanaya made you nervous and caused that nightmare. That has to be it.

  
You rub your sleep crusted eyes and groan as you set your feet down on the floor. You don't feel the floor though, in fact it feels like you're wearing shoes--but you wouldn't go to bed with your shoes on, your mom would kill you for getting dirt all over your sheets, so why? Actually, don't your shoulders feel a bit heavier than usual? You shrug them and hear the sound of thick fabric shifting, and you can feel cloth moving against your back through your shirt.

  
You reach a hand back and grab, pulling in front of your eyes what looks like the red cape of--no, that is definitely the same red cape they gave you at the ceremony, but why would you wear that to bed? How tired were you to just crash fully clothed?  
You look up from the cape and your eyes widen as reality crashes instantly and mercilessly upon you.

  
This is not your room and it was not a nightmare; the walls around you are not the wooden planks of your room at home, but the bark of a hollow tree. On the other side of the large hollow is a bed-shaped thing that looks like it grew as part of the tree, covered in pelts that must serve as blankets. Upon closer inspection, your "bed" is much the same.

  
You run agitated hands through your wet hair, breathing hard as the reality of your situation crashes over you again and again like waves on a stormy beach. You're a prisoner of a monster and you're here until you die.

  
You're not really thinking when you take off running. You don't really see the forest around you and you certainly don't hear a voice call after you as you race as fast as you can to anywhere else.

  
With every step a mixture of dread and hope swirls around in your stomach and you feel almost sick with it--you think, any moment now, the beast will find you--but as every step takes you further toward the edge of the forest, you let yourself think that you really will escape. After all, she hasn't caught you yet, even after her boast of being able to find you within seconds.

It is, of course, during one of your brief spurts of hope that the God damned cape of your fucking hood gets snagged on a tree branch. You don't really notice it until you hear the loud CRACK behind you as the weak branch splits from the tree. You've barely turned your head when the limb comes down on your dumb ass. It's not heavy enough and didn't fall hard to injure--though it hurts because you're a pathetic wimp--but it's plenty heavy enough to halt your progress out of the forest.

  
You groan as the grass and dirt beneath you scratches at your skin, trying to crawl out from beneath the branch or lift it off. It's not all that heavy, but your arms have the strength of slightly under-cooked noodles, so you're not making much progress. You grunt with the effort as you heave against the limb, wishing you had at least fallen on your back. In your struggles, you do not hear the approach of the stranger.

  
At first all you see is white paws, and you freeze in terror, thinking the beast has come to punish you for fleeing--but when you finally lift your eyes you see not the terrifying beast woman, but a white wolf looking down at you with bright green eyes.

  
The wolf looks straight into your terrified eyes but doesn't make a move. You begin to contemplate which would be worse, being eaten alive by a wild animal or whatever horrible punishment the beast has planned for you. You aren't given long to ponder--the wolf lifts its face to the sky and lets out a loud howl that seems to echo throughout the forest. Calling its pack no doubt, to share the feast of fresh young troll with them; come and get it boys, tender fatty troll under a nice salad! Won't need much tenderizing, since he has no muscle to speak of, and let's not forget the delicious face meat, marinated in pathetic baby tears!

  
Yet the footsteps you hear pounding against the earth seem a bit too loud to be ravenous wolves--and the voices calling out your name sound an awful lot like the two prisoners you met before. You try to turn your head to see them but can't quite turn your neck that much beneath the branch.

  
You finally give up and turn your eyes back on the wolf that would make you its meal--but it's gone, without a trace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god i am SOOOO sorry this took so long. I'll try to write the next one faster.


	3. The Name

You wake in your surprisingly comfortable tree bed in your strange tree room for the second time since becoming a prisoner of the forest. The room is dark and you can hear your "roommate" snoring softly on the other side of the tree. With a frustrated sigh you toss the pelts toward the foot of the bed and sit up, rubbing your tired eyes.

  
You can't sleep. You don't know how you really expected to in the first place, but it's irritating nonetheless. Regardless of how comfortable the bed or how relaxing the forest ambience, your mind is simply too stressed to rest.  
You can't stop thinking about everything--about your imprisonment, about the beast keeping you captive, about your family and friends back home, even about that wolf.

  
You were too scared at the time to notice anything off about its behavior, but thinking back now, it was strange that it didn't just attack you. There you were, basically gift-wrapped for the damn thing, and all it did was stare at you, howl, and leave. Even weirder, it seems like Jane and Tavros found you almost right after the wolf howled--like it was some kind of signal?

  
That's ridiculous, though. Why would a wild animal tell them where you were, and anyway how would they understand its meaning? Who knows how many wolves are in this forest anyway? How could one howl possibly lead anyone to you?  
It's a ridiculous thing to wrack your brain over so hard, but it's just so strange.

  
You grumble and turn on your side, yanking the pelts back up to your shoulders. It's not even that cold, but you feel safer covered up and over-warm than you do cool and uncovered. Your eyelids are heavy as you take a deep breath, breathing in the thick scent of forest that pervades the entire room. You need to sleep, you know. As uncomfortable and unsafe as you feel in this place, you can't just stay awake forever. You can't, but knowing that doesn't make sleep come any easier.

  
A particularly loud snore erupts from the other side of the room and you groan, turning on your stomach and burying your face into the pelt beneath you. That jackass can sleep deeply as anything in this place and you've been tossing and turning all night. With an irritated growl you once again toss the pelts off and sit up, this time getting out of bed and stomping to the "doorway" of the tree hollow.

  
It's black as pitch outside, but as a troll you're gifted with exceptional night vision, so it makes no difference to you. A quick look around tells you that everyone is asleep or at least indoors--for a given value of indoors--with one jarring exception.  
Though, you guess it probably isn't house trained, anyway.

  
The white wolf from before turns its head toward you, and you take a nervous step back behind the opening of the tree. Its green eyes seem to glow in the dark as they stare you down, more eery even than the eyes of the beast.

  
It stands in the middle of the clearing, swishing its tail back and forth but otherwise not moving a muscle. Its eyes are unblinking and unsettling, and you have no clue how to react. Run back into the tree? It could easily chase you down, couldn't it, and it isn't like you have a door to lock against it. Chase it away? What if there were other wolves nearby, that would hear the noise and come to help their packmate?

  
There's really not a lot you can do, but hold your ground until the wolf makes a move.

  
It does, but not one you'd expect. The wild animal shakes its head from side to side, making a growling noise that sounds almost . . . frustrated? After that, it turns and bounds into the woods.

  
Once again, the wolf has chosen not to attack you. Your shaking knees give out and you fall flat on your useless cowardly ass. What the hell is up with that thing? What kind of wolf looks its prey in the eyes then just turns tail and runs?

  
Maybe you shouldn't question what little good fortune you have though. The wolf could have mauled and eaten you, and it didn't--you should probably be thanking every deity you can think of for that, instead of wracking your brains over whatever weird wolf-y reason it had for sparing you.

  
It's chilly outside of the tree, and your body is shaken by both the cold and a yawn. You turn with a sigh to try, probably in vain, to sleep again.

* * *

  
The next morning finds the clearing more populated than you have seen it since your arrival. Along with Tavros and Jane are three trolls you've never seen before. Everyone is gathered around a makeshift table that seems as grown out of the earth as the trees around you, eating and talking animatedly. Jane turns away from a conversation with the shorter of the female trolls at the table and waves you over with a smile.

"Breakfast time! I'll introduce you to everyone."

  
You take a seat on a mossy stump and Jane passes you a wooden bowl full of something that looks like oatmeal, topped with berries, and a wooden spoon. You eye the food suspiciously and stir it around a bit with the spoon, not sure how willing you are to eat anything offered to you in this place. Before you attempt a bite, Jane begins introductions.

  
"These three are Nepeta Leijon," she says, gesturing to the grinning, tall troll girl with vivid olive eyes and bits of oatmeal stuck to her face around her lips. She waves a gloved hand at you with a cheery, "hi!"

  
"Equius Zahhak,"

  
Jane directs your gaze to the muscular troll seated beside Nepeta. His bluish-grey gaze scans you for a few moments and he inclines his head in a nod before returning to his meal. Droplets of blue sweat are beading on his forehead despite the cool temperature, and it kind of weirds you out. He holds his spoon very carefully and loosely, and when you look closer at it, it seems to be made of an entirely different kind of wood than the others.

  
"And this," Jane says with a big smile, turning toward the female troll seated next to her, "is Terezi Pyrope."

  
At first glance Terezi seems about average--it's when you take a second glance at her face that you start. Above those sharp grinning teeth are eyes of pure red--still she looks right at you as if her blind eyes don't hinder her vision at all when she greets you.

  
You mumble a, "hey" and look down at your breakfast again before Jane says something that finally makes something click in your head.

  
"All of us wore the red hood like you did, and we all stepped off the path some way or another, so we know what you're going through."

  
Equius clears his throat and Jane quickly corrects herself.

  
"Well, Equius actually never wore the hood--he came into the forest searching for Nepeta."

  
Equius nods, satisfied, and returns to his meal. Nepeta grins beside him and ruffles his hair, causing him to make a remark about "indignation" that you don't really pay attention to because you've just realized something very, very off about this situation.

  
"Wait, wait, wait."

  
You raise your hands above your head and everyone at the table looks up from their meals and turns away from their conversations. You take a moment to gather your thoughts before beginning.

  
The people seated at the table with you are all clearly different ages, but none of them look more than a few years older than you. Tavros, at the very least, looks to be about the same age as you--his eyes are still grey--and that just doesn't make sense because of one very important thing.

  
"I don't remember hearing about anyone going missing in the forest since like, twelve years ago--and I don't remember ever seeing any of you in the village before, so how the hell are you all here? Especially you," you say, pointing to Terezi, "last time I checked, the village doesn't send blind people into the fucking monster haunted forest!"

  
Terezi laughs, her red eyes narrowing.

  
"You'd be surprised who they were willing to send in when this all started."

  
Started?

  
"I think I can explain," Tavros says, putting his bowl and spoon down, "that person who went missing twelve years ago, that was me. The others were here before me, and--"

  
"Okay, that is all kinds of impossible. You're my age--twelve years ago you would have barely stopped crawling around in your own slime, not going into the forest."

  
"Actually, Nitram is much older than you," Equius says, "As are the rest of us."

  
What?

  
"What?"

  
Nepeta gives you a sympathetic look and a smile, "It's kind of a lot to think about when you've just got here, but none of us really look as old as we are. See, her powers keep us all from getting older as long as we're in the forest!"

  
You don't need to ask to know who the "her" Nepeta referred to was--and you're a bit too gobsmacked to ask anyway. Fortunately, the group at the table take it upon themselves to answer one of the questions you can't bring yourself to ask.

  
"Me and Equius have been here twenty-four years," explains Nepeta, with an accompanying nod from Equius. Jane says that she has been in the forest for thirty-seven years, and with a huge toothy grin, Terezi tells you just how long she's been here.

  
"Fifty-eight years--they sent me in about three months after she made the rule. They weren't as picky about who went into the forest then."

  
"We don't age while we're here, but we can still get hurt or sick," Jane explains, absent-mindedly stirring what's left of her oatmeal, "so unless we die from illness or injury, we'll live as long as she does."

  
So when they said you'd be here forever, they really meant forever. Whatever appetite you might have had earlier is completely gone now, and you push your oatmeal around in your bowl dejectedly, thinking about just how long this "punishment" will last.

  
Your dejection slowly begins to turn into anger. Who the hell does she think she is, keeping you here for the rest of your life--hell, longer than the rest of your life--because you stepped off of a God damn path?

Why?! What the hell kind of punishment is that for such a tiny offense?!

  
As you push your bowl away and stand, you ignore the curious glances aimed your way.

  
You're gonna go get some fucking answers.

* * *

  
Okay, so you have no idea where the hell to find her. She could be anywhere in this huge-ass forest, and you're still not sure how far you can walk in any direction without her seeing it as you trying to run away and punishing you further. Still, you want answers and by God you're going to get some answers, even if you have to search the whole damn forest for the beast.

  
That turns out to be completely unnecessary, since you find her only about half an hour after you start looking.

  
With no clues of any sort to go on, the sound of running water is about as good a lead as you can hope for. After all, she probably drinks water, right?

  
You find her sitting next to a creek, furred feet dangling in the water and splashing back and forth. Her pelts are carefully arranged around her like a skirt and her paw-like hands are--to your complete bafflement--engaged in the making of a flower chain. If it weren't for her fearsome features, she would look nothing like the angry beast that captured you.

  
Her ears twitch at the sound of your approach and she turns to look at you. You flinch reflexively, but her face isn't angry at all, and she doesn't make any move to get up. You stare at each other for a few moments before her brows furrow in perplexion.

  
"Hello?"

  
Her voice has none of the fury or warning you heard in it before, simply curiosity. You're not certain how to react to this sudden change in disposition, so you just stand there like an idiot, opening and closing your mouth repeatedly and trying to find words. The anger and indignation that led you stomping your way for answers has dissipated in the wake of your confusion and your voice seems to have left you.

  
She snorts.

  
She's laughing at you.

  
"Here," the beast says between giggles, patting the ground next to her. You stare at her incredulously, not moving, and she makes an impatient noise, pointing at the spot in a way that says you'd better get your ass over there right now, so you do.

  
Well, sort of. You're sitting significantly further away from her than she told you to, but she doesn't seem to care. Without a word to you she returns to making her flower chain, splish-splashing her feet in the water without a care in the world. Looking right at her still makes you kind of scared, so you avert your gaze to the creek, eyes following a bunch of tadpoles that swim in the area around the beast's feet as if the splashing doesn't bother them at all.

  
You can't believe this is the same beast that captured you.

  
Captured--with that thought your indignation flares up again, and you finally get your voice back.

  
"Why the hell are you keeping me here?!"

  
The beast looks up from her work in surprise, but doesn't answer, so you go on.

  
"Come on, what the fuck is your reasoning here--I step off the path for a fucking minute and now I'm stuck here for the rest of my life--hell, longer than the rest of my life?!"

  
It doesn't make sense. It's the most disproportionate retribution you have heard of and you are absolutely seething over the unfairness of it all. The beast doesn't react much to your anger or yelling, only pouting--fucking pouting--when you finish.

  
"That's kind of rude, you know."

  
What.

"What."

  
The beast puts her flower chain down, lifting her feet from the water and rearranging her skirt of pelts, before continuing, "Demanding all of these answers from me, when you don't even know my name. It's rude."

  
Is she fucking serious?

  
"Fine," you bite out, "What's your name?"

  
She raises a clawed and padded finger and wiggles it back and forth in an admonishing manner.

  
"It's good manners to introduce yourself before asking someone else's name," she says, looking at you like a child who's forgotten his Ps and Qs.

  
Suddenly you're not sure what's worse, the furious frightening beast or the irritating weirdly-friendly beast.

  
"Alright, fine! I'm Karkat Vantas. Now what's your name already?"

  
"Sorry," she says, splashing her feet back into the water, "I can't tell you that. You have to figure it out for yourself."

  
Your mouth drops open.

  
"Wha--why?! What do you mean you can't tell me?!"

  
"Those are the rules," the beast says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. She links together the two ends of her flower chain, forming a crown, then brings it close to her face, narrowing her eyes as she exams it for imperfections, then holds it out to you, "You want this?"

  
"No, I don't want your stupid flower crown--and don't you make the rules?"

  
"One, it isn't stupid," says the beast, putting the crown on her own head and around her ears, "and two, yes, I do make the rules--and that's one of them. Honestly it shouldn't be that hard to figure it out--everyone else got it pretty easily."

  
Everyone else? So the rest of the prisoners had to figure out her name too? Then--

  
"Someone might help you," the beast says, with a tone of significance,"you should ask around."

  
"You're not going to answer any of my questions until I figure out your name, are you?"

  
The beast smirks at you, her sharp teeth gleaming.

  
"Nope."

* * *

 

"Aw, sorry Karkitty, I can't tell you!"

  
You're not sure when or why Nepeta decided that was an appropriate nickname, but you're a bit too frustrated with other things to get indignant about it now. Also a bit too busy holding your nose because she's tanning some kind of animal hide and oh God it stinks to high heaven. You are getting the fuck out of this cave the minute you get your questions answered.

  
"What? Why the hell not?"

  
Nepeta gives a shrug and an apologetic smile before answering simply, "It's the rules."

  
Oh come the fuck on! Seriously?!

  
"But she told me to ask for help! Can't you give me a hint?"

  
Nepeta shakes her head, "Sorry, I really can't. Maybe you should ask someone else? She might want you to ask a certain peson!"

You thank Nepeta anyway for her sort-of help, and head off to find someone else to ask. Fucking rules.

  
Tavros and Equius are no more help than Nepeta was--again, the all-mighty rules dictated that they could not give you so much as a hint about the beast's name. You're about ready to give up when you see Jane and Terezi sitting together outside one of the hollow trees, chatting about something or another.

  
"Oh, hey Karkat," Jane says with a smile, "you looked a little down earlier, are you feeling better?"

  
"No," you grumble, before trying your luck one more time, "What's the beast's name?"

  
"Ohh," Jane says, as Terezi bursts into snickers next to her, "is that what you're so frazzled about? Sorry, I can't really help you. The--"

  
"The rules, I know--everyone else said the same God damn thing. God, why did she even tell me to ask for help if she made it against the rules to help me?!"

  
"It's against the rules for _us_ to help you, Karkles," says Terezi with a huge toothy grin, and you bristle at yet another ridiculous nickname being bestowed upon you, "buuuut . . . we're not the only ones who you can ask, you know."

  
"Are we allowed to tell him that?"

  
"Sure."

  
"Who the hell else am I supposed to ask?"

  
"Weeeelllll . . . " Terezi says, putting a finger on her chin and tilting her head in thought, before a huge smirk splits her face, "Figure it out for yourself!"

  
You hate it here. So. Much.

* * *

  
You've been trudging around the forest for a good hour and you haven't seen a single other person. You're beginning to think Jane and Terezi pulled one over on you.

  
With a groan you plop down beneath a tall tree, not caring what kind of dirt and bugs and whatever else you're sitting in. You're beginning to think the beast set you up to fail, and everyone else is just playing along, all conspiring against you like a collective of sneaky assholes.

  
As you're stewing in your frustration, you hear a high yipping sound. You look up from the ground and straight into the face of a white wolf pup.

  
"FUCK!"

  
You try to scramble backwards and away from the pup, but the tree at your back stops you. You feel kind of stupid for freaking out over a puppy, but a wolf pup means other wolves nearby, and it snuck up on you so quietly!

  
The puppy wags its tail, it's tongue lolling out of a mouth that almost seems to be smiling, and yips at you again. It puts its paws up on your knees and wags its tail even faster, looking up at you expectantly. You think you know what it wants, and cautiously extend a hand toward it. The puppy sniffs at your hand a few times, then pushes its head under it, making that smiling face at you again.

  
"What's with you?" You wonder as you pet the wolf pup, since that's what it seems to want and you have to admit it's pretty adorable. The puppy barks in reply and hops up into your lap, squirming until it's comfortable and then looking up at you again with what you finally notice to be big green eyes.

  
You freeze--white fur, green eyes? Like that wolf you keep seeing--what if that wolf is this pup's parent? What if it finds you with its pup? You don't think you'll survive another close call.

  
The puppy yips happily at you again, wagging its little tail, and licks your hand. Shit, it's fucking adorable.

  
"If your mom or dad eats me, I'm blaming you," you grumble, petting the puppy again. You heave a sigh, looking at the forest around you. Who else could there be in this forest for you to ask.

  
"Don't guess you know what her name is, huh?" You ask the pup, scratching behind its ears, "I swear, I bet she--"

  
The puppy jumps out of your lap with an excited bark, running around in a circle and turning back to you expectantly. You stare at it incredulously--Could it be trying to tell you something? That's impossible, but . . .

"You know her name?" You ask, feeling like five kinds of idiot for asking a wild animal, but it's the only lead you have.

  
The pup yips, running around in a circle again. You run a hand through your hair in frustration, not sure whether to take that as an answer or just a puppy being a puppy. The pup looks almost as frustrated as you, running in another circle, this time hopping up and placing its front feet on a few trees and grabbing a green leaf off the ground and presenting it to you.

  
You turn the leaf in your hand, mumbling, "Circle tree leaf . . .?"

  
The pup makes a quiet growling sound and plops down on the forest floor, hiding its face in its paws in an almost dejected fashion. You groan.

  
"Look I'm sorry, I'm trying to figure it out but--. . .I'm apologizing to a wild animal. Wow."

  
The pup lets out an indignant sounding bark, almost like it understood what you said. Now if only you could understand it.  
Circle, tree, leaf . . .? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Is she named after some sort of tree? That's not going to help you. You don't know shit about plants, that's Kanaya's thing--and why the circle? The hell was that supposed to mean?

  
What the hell kind of name would a forest monster have, anyway? If only you had a more concrete hint.

  
You start, eyes wide. You do have a more concrete hint! Before the beast shushed him, Tavros almost said something.

Something starting with J.

  
J, circle, tree, leaf?

It still doesn't make any sense. The circle throws everything off--what the hell is it supposed to-

  
Oh.

  
Oh, wow, you're an idiot.

  
You get to your feet, and the pup looks up at you, tilting its head questioningly.

  
"I've got it," you say, "Uh . . . Thanks?"

  
The pup barks, wagging its tail.

* * *

  
"Your name is Jade Forest."

  
The circle didn't mean circle, it meant "all". All of the trees, all of the leaves; the entire forest.

  
Otherwise known as Jade Forest.

  
The beast--Jade--smiles at you.

  
"Took you long enough."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you this one would be up sooner.


End file.
